The former England international left-back has been impressed with Tottenham head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s policy of playing young players this season.

So far this campaign, Spurs have played only one footballer in his 30s once (goalkeeper Michel Vorm).

Should Vorm remain on the substitutes’ bench for the final five games of the campaign, then Tottenham will become only the second Premier League team in history to go an entire season when a player aged 30 or over has made a single appearance or fewer.

Subhankar Mondal

A football journalist based in Wakefield, Subhankar Mondal has previously worked for Goal.com International and Skysports.com, and has had his sports articles published in The Guardian and The Observer. He has also been on the BBC in the past and his name once found its way to the pages of the World Soccer magazine. He was recently cited in a major Louis van Gaal biography.